Arne

A couple of thoughts on this to add:You're right Carl, it is more likely that the free length has been changed on the lowering springs, if they are linear rate as the OE springs are/were. But if they are progressive rate - which is the case for Tokico and Eibach, to name two - they could easily have tweaked the initial rate without having to make big changes to the free length. Also, installed height is not an issue here, as the installed height is determined by the amount of shock travel. Since the springs are pre-loaded (i.e. you have to use a compressor to install them) the installed height will always be as much as the shock travel will allow. It is still a factor for the spring engineers, but it will not change from spring to spring on the same shock. Lastly, I have finally started installing my Euro Stage 1 springs, and I now believe that the increased ride height issue on those is not solely caused by the gas shocks, but also that we are comparing to old, sagged out stock springs as our reference point. I have not done the rear yet, so I won't share all the measurements yet, but I have replaced the 35 year old stock springs on the front of my car with the Stage 1 springs. I did NOT change the shocks at all. The Stage 1 springs alone raised the front ride height about 1/2" when compared to the stock springs on the exact same shocks. My car still has non-gas shocks in it, but that is immaterial here, because I am comparing changes from the springs only. More details on this when I finish the spring swap.

Jim, for use as an emergency spare, it should be OK as long as it doesn't bleed off pressure too fast, and has no weather-checking that might be deep enough to expose the inner cords. For a tire that has never been in use, there are two major age-related concerns. The first is that the fabric and steel inside the carcass has never been exposed to oxygen or moisture. So if there are no cracks in the sidewall rubber or in the bottom of the tread grooves that exposed the cords, you should be fine there. The other concern is that over the years, all the volatile compounds will have leached out of the rubber. The grip and durability of the rubber becomes badly compromised. For use as a spare tire (seldom used, and at limited speeds and stress) it will probably be OK, but no way I'd want to use it as a normal-use tire. General rule of thumb for normal use would be 10 years old at the most.

That key is correct for Series 1 cars, for all the locks other than the ignition. I still have one of the originals for my car, although it isn't even close to that nice!

No, the warping I'm talking about is not on the mounting surface, it's the whole thing. The manifold ends bow downwards, eventually bending or breaking the exhaust studs on the far ends of the head. I heard of this a while back, and started checking them as I found them. All the early 240Z manifolds I looked at were bowed in this manner to some degree. The 280ZX manifold now on my L28 has done this also.

I pretty much agree with the above, with only one reservation. The stock manifold is a good option for a stock engine - IF you already have a good one. But the early manifolds by now are often junk. I know, because I was looking for one and gave up. The ones I found were either rusted badly (with broken and missing studs) or warped, or both. A header isn't the perfect solution, as they do often have fitment issues, they aren't as durable as stock, and they won't give you much benefit on a stock motor. But it may be a better solution than a messed up manifold.

Even between two cars, I don't have any original tires for my spare. But I do have a pretty cool (to an ex-tire guy like me) vintage 175HR14 Michelin XAS to use as a spare. Not new, but probably 60% or better.

Try it first, Jim. My car came with w 5.5" slot mag in the spare, and the wheel was too wide to fit in the spare well. The round fiberboard cover sat 3/4" above the floor. That's why I'm going back to stock steel for the spare.

Black it will be. Thanks, everyone!

Thanks, Carl. That makes the most sense to me, as I'm fairly certain that the wheels and tires were just pulled from a pile and either bolted on the car, or put in the spare well. It didn't seem right to me that they would use a special, non-black-painted batch of wheels for the spares. On the other hand, all indications are that the wheel out of the spare well on my parts car was original to that car. Granted, it is not the original tire (has a vintage 175HR14 Michelin XAS on it), but the date code of the wheel (3-71) matches well with the 4/71 build date of the car. And even after sanding and prepping it for new paint, I can find no trace of black on it, and the silver-gray sure looks original. Curiouser and curiouser...

Hey folks, I know that the original road wheels had a silver-gray base coat, with a quick coat of flat black on the face. But were the spare wheels the same? Or did they not have the black paint on the face? I ask because my Series 1 came to me sans spare. I have one out of my parts car, which appears to never have been painted black. Does that sound right?

Assuming of course, that the guy who looked at it knows what he's talking about. But I wonder about spending $900 to rebuild it when used replacements are cheap.

No, the 5 speed was an option in '77 and '78.

No problem, once it stops you can tear it apart and oil it with sewing machine oil and it will work again!

Sold my truck a number of years back. Taking my cue from the Europeans, both the Jetta and the BMW have receiver hitches on them, and tow a small utility trailer quite nicely. But I do agree, with that addition - if you own a house you've almost got to have either a truck or a trailer.

I worked on mine for several hours before getting it to work reliably. (Still running, BTW.) Enrique's last post is accurate, and is part of what I did to finally get it going. The details of my repair: Oiling the motor - Look at the last picture I posted above. Notice the metal strap across the back of the motor. Slightly loosen the small screw under paint opposite the wires. The wire end of the strap can then be pivotted counter-clockwise to reveal the shaft bushing. Put a small drop of oil there, and immediately blot up any excess. Replace the strap and reapply some lock paint. (Nail polish works well.) Then remove the motor mounting screw (next to my fat thumb in the picture) and the mechanism mounting stud opposite the screw. The motor can then be gently pulled away from the clockworks. Connect 12 volt power and let hte motor spin free for a short while so that you know it works well. Replace the motor. Clockwork pivots - I did not loosen the screws that Enrique mentions, but I did oil (ever so sparingly) all the pivot points. Just like on the motor, apply the smallest drop you can, and immediately blot as much of it back up as you are able. Doing those two things got mine working well, in fact it might be working too well, as it gains a 2 or 3 minutes per week now. Which is close enough for me.

No trucks, SUVs or automatic transmissions for my wife and me. Currently: 1996 BMW 328i Sport 1991 VW Jetta GLI 16v (bought new in '91, 102k miles) 1992 BMW K75RT (only two wheels) Notable previous vehicles: 1981 BMW 323i (gray market European model, think 320i with a 2.3L six) 1990 VW Corrado G60 1967 MGB (went through the same process the 240Z is now experiencing 1981 Scirocco S (much modded) Numerous motorcycles and ATVs 1974 Datsun B210 hatchback (only previous Datsun) 1975 Chevy Cosworth Vega (not much like a regular Vega - 2.0 all-aluminum 16v twin cam with a true Cosworth head and factory fuel injection, one of 3600 built)

Find a good local shop, tell them what you want and have them custom build it. Ask the local muscle car and hot rod crowd who does the best exhaust work, and go there. You will get a better fitting system, they can help you select the proper system for sound, and the price will be about the same as the commercial systems.

You know, if the switch on a '72 is the same as on my early '71, both connectors may be the same. Since the switch simply completes the circuit, it doesn't matter which wire is connected to which. When I did the transmission swap on my car I recall this being the case, both pigtails on the switch were black and both had male bullets, IIRC.

He's been trying to sell it on Craigslist for several months, for about that same $12,500 price. I was hoping to see it in person at the Canby show, but it wasn't there. Not quite my cup of tea, either.

Well, if they are the ones I am imagining in my mind, I don't think they are all that common these days, but probably not so rare as to be super valuable. Appliance got blind-sided in the US market when Enkei hit, and didn't have the equipment to make wheels of that type and quality. So they bought wheels from Japan, added their own center caps and re-boxed them as Appliance. IIRC, the most common Appliance wheels of this type were stamped or cast "Upsilon" on the back side of the wheel. But you may have something totally different. Please post a picture.

Sounds logical, but before I install teh other one, can anyone think of anything in the car's wiring that could cause this failure? No sense in doing the same thing to another one, you know.

I actually have both sides. The mouting tabs on the covers are - of course - broken, but I have an idea or two on that. If it works I'll take pictures and share.

Thanks, Carl. Thats kind of what I thought. So they were probably the originals for the car I'm parting out.

Can anyone tell me what year these seat recliners would have originally come on? They were in my late '71 parts car (4/71). I think I'll put them in my Series 1, even though they're not really correct, because they seem much more convenient.

Well, I have a spare tach from the pats car, so if it's dead and can't be repaired easily...